Spill puts a sheen on Riceboro Creek

Chemtall Inc. appears responsible; EPD continues to investigate.

The Georgia Environmental Protection Division is investigating a chemical spill from the Chemtall Inc. plant in Riceboro.

It's still unknown what chemical or how much of it spilled, according to Jeff Barnes, an EPD environmental emergency responder.

Barnes began his investigation Friday around 9:30 p.m. after fishermen called an emergency hotline to report a sheen on the water of Riceboro and Peacock creeks.

"It was clear that there was a petroleum smell and you could tell there was some sheen," he said.

After consulting with company officials, Barnes has tentatively concluded that workers cleaning a sludge-lined stormwater discharge basin let its usual flow bypass the basin and flush into the marsh.

That is a violation of the company's National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit.

"We'd not been notified and they weren't permitted to do the bypass," Barnes said.

The "chemical products" didn't belong in the storm sewer, according to Barnes.

"They're not supposed to be in there other than in trace amounts," he said. "We're still investigating how they got in there."

Barnes took samples of both the oily sheen and sludge.

"Neither of the two compounds belongs in the marsh but got pumped in the marsh in this bypass process," he said.

A local lab will analyze the eight samples to determine what spilled.

No decision has been made about whether to fine Chemtall, Barnes said.

The company, a subsidiary of SNF Holding Co., produces chemicals used in wastewater treatment.

The national non-profit Green Media Toolshed ranked Chemtall's environmental releases among the worst 30 percent of U.S. companies. The ranking is based on data from the U.S. EPA's Toxics Release Inventory.

As the investigation continues, so does the clean up. Chemtall contracted with Moran Environmental Recovery, which first put booms in the creek to contain the spill.

That apparently failed, perhaps because the booms weren't set up until Saturday and by then the tide had swept out some of the spill, Barnes said.

On Monday, clean-up workers vacuumed the marsh with a specially adapted vacuum truck and 6-inch diameter hose. About 1-2 acres of marsh are heavily impacted by the spill, Barnes said.

Some residents of the Liberty County community remain concerned.

"It was a mess and we just got real alarmed," said Jerry Martin, who lives on Peacock Creek. "We talked to a Chemtall supervisor who said it wasn't dangerous, but how do we know?"